TEMAS DE ECONOMIA E GESTÃO

26 de janeiro de 2017

Davos warns ‘squeezed’ middle class needs attention

Threatened by unemployment and stagnant wages, the middle class is increasingly feeling the pinch and falling prey to populism, as shown in recent elections and the Brexit vote, international and business leaders in Davos warned.

Even though the middle class is growing globally, that is not the case in the developed world, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said to a crowded room at the World Economic Forum on Wednesday (18 January).

Pointing at rising inequality, Lagarde repeated what she said back in 2013 during a speech to the same audience. Recent events seem to confirm that the message of what she said then was not taken seriously.

“Now we have an opportunity to put in place policies to solve it,” she insisted, pointing to strong signals coming from voters.

25 de janeiro de 2017

The four possible Europes after Brexit

Europe suffers from abysmal growth, which fuels the rising Euroscepticism fire and increases the risk of more exits.

Brexit’s impact on business will depend on which Europe emerges in the aftermath, writes Ilaria Maselli.Ilaria Maselli is a senior economist for Europe at The Conference Board, a global, independent business membership and research association.

On 17 January, Prime Minister May laid out her vision for a “truly global Britain” in the wake of Brexit. Despite the shock of the Brexit Referendum, other European leaders have done little to address the spreading anti-globalization and anti-migration sentiments. As an example of what could unfold, look to the upcoming Dutch, French, Czech, and German elections. Over the next few months, what road integration takes could go a long way in determining Europe’s growth rate and the sources fueling it.

Along with the political and policy outcomes here at home, the dynamism of Europe heavily depends on demand coming from abroad. Global growth provides tremendous oxygen to Europe’s economy, especially the eurozone, which exports more than it imports. According to our research at The Conference Board, head or tailwinds from abroad, plus internal reforms to Europe, could lay the foundation for four alternative Europes to start taking shape.

22 de janeiro de 2017

Without Management Standards Your Company Doesn't Know What It's Doing

Businesses need a concrete set of expectations to which every manager is held accountable.

There’s an old saying in business: If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it. When it comes to improving the effectiveness of an organization’s managers, many companies struggle to distinguish the good, the bad and the ugly. After all, how do you objectively assess a manager’s ability to "get to know their people" or "have difficult conversations?" These are big concepts that don’t lend themselves to convenient metrics, but they’re essential to effective management.

A universal and urgent challenge.

It doesn’t matter how big or small your organization is, what industry you’re in or at what stage of growth. The difficulty of assessing manager competence is universal. According to recent data from Wakefield Research and Grovo, 84 percent of middle managers believe their company needs a better way to evaluate manager ability.

20 de janeiro de 2017

Trade raises productivity but may hurt some unless policies redistribute the benefits

As the global economy struggles with slow growth, political support for freer international trade has weakened, most notably in advanced economies and especially in the United States. While some resistance to freer trade is nothing new, it never stopped the postwar trade liberalization process, which delivered growth in advanced economies and promoted convergence of per capita incomes throughout a significant portion of the developing world.

Opposition to trade remains a minority view—most people gain from trade, but it seems to have many more vocal enemies these days.

Trade enables a country to use its resources more efficiently. But the gains from that greater efficiency may be divided unevenly among a country’s citizens, so that some of them lose out. The result can be greater income inequality and disrupted lives.

Over the past quarter century, the global economy has seen a seismic transformation thanks to increased trade and technological and political changes. While there is much progress to cheer at the global level, most governments have not ensured that gains from economic growth—including those due to trade—are broadly shared. In some places, tepid and declining overall income growth has brought frustrations to a boil.

Trade’s benefits have always been unequally shared, and maybe more so in recent years. But its gains are all the more important in today’s low-growth environment. Countries must protect and expand these gains through policies that redistribute them more equitably. That will also make economies more resilient to a range of market forces, beyond those connected with globalization.

11 de janeiro de 2017

2017 tech trends: 'A major bank will fail'

Image copyrightTHINKSTOCKImage captionCould a bank go under following a major hacking theft in 2017?

So what are the big technology trends to watch out for in 2017?The pace of change is accelerating at a dizzying rate, with profound implications for the way we work, play and communicate.

Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity will undoubtedly be the dominant theme of 2017, as all tech innovations could be undermined by data thefts, fraud and cyber propaganda.

Forget Kim Kardashian, it's hacking that could break the internet - and much more besides.

As accusations of Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election continue to reverberate around the world, hackers - whether private or state-sponsored - would seem to be getting the upper hand.

Prof Richard Benham, chairman of the National Cyber Management Centre, gives a dire warning: "A major bank will fail as a result of a cyber-attack in 2017 leading to a loss of confidence and a run on that bank."

10 de janeiro de 2017

What will drive political uncertainty in 2017?

2017 promises to be another challenging year for Europe's liberal democracies. Many EU member states are facing elections. But it may be cultural backlash rather than economics that will drive populist vote.

BRUEGEL BY: GUNTRAM B. WOLFFDATE: JANUARY 3, 2017

As 2016 draws to a close, a sense of unease is gripping many commentators who look ahead. This year brought victories for Brexit and Donald Trump. The outcome of both votes was largely unexpected. What will 2017 bring? The EU is facing three, or even four, elections in major member states. The Netherlands, France, Germany and possibly also Italy will go to the polls. The results of all four elections are far from certain at this stage. Indeed, voting behaviour seems to have become difficult to predict.

Economic and sociological research points to a number of different factors provoking these recent electoral upsets. The debate is broadly about whether it is economic issues such as income inequality, cultural issues such as a rejection of equal rights for women, minorities and gay people, or factors relating to citizens’ perceived loss of control over their destiny that has driven people to support populist candidates and causes.